


Lights Out

by Sachi_Grace



Series: Starlit Love [2]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Assassins & Hitmen, Cults, F/M, Retrospective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:14:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24003409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sachi_Grace/pseuds/Sachi_Grace
Summary: Day Two: Working Out/SweetsMaki's sure fire way to deal with nightmares is the same way she settles things with the people that annoy her. It's just a shame the thoughts won't stop coming.
Relationships: Harukawa Maki/Momota Kaito
Series: Starlit Love [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1731013
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	Lights Out

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much Momoharu Week 2020 for hosting this event! Thank you to sunflower_8 who knows that sometimes I can't spell a simple character's name. Thank you for all of your support! Your bookmarks, kudos, and subscriptions mean a lot to me.

The gym was empty save for just one or two people that were just finishing off their sets. The early morning crowd wasn’t too large and it was easier for Maki to handle when she wanted some time by herself to just think. She didn’t mind the late night workouts with Kaito and Shuichi; she adored those. But this was her time to figure out herself and the world around her. To let her mind go free and to remind herself to stay focused. She didn’t go for the weight lifts her boyfriend opted for, instead she went straight over towards the punching bags and started her stretches, loosening up her muscles and trying to fight the exhaustion that wanted her to come back to bed. Her hands were already taped and her long hair was tied in elegant two buns to keep out of her face.

She punched the punching bag first and she listened to the jingle of the chains that it hung on. The sting on her knuckles was only momentarily as she pulled back and quickly followed it up with a roundhouse kick. She kept herself low, knees bent, and her hands up to her head as it was one of the most common places one would go for in a battle, save for the stomach and the groin area if someone was an amateur. 

A thought of Kaito came into her mind and she slammed a punch as hard as she could into the punching bag. The thought drifted back into mindless white noise, but the adrenaline kicked herself into gear. Faster, harder. A thought of Kaito. A thought of the cult. The thought of the cult managing to track her down. A thought of the cult figuring out that Kaito meant something to her. A punch, a kick, a jab, a hammer fist. A thought of Shuichi debating going after the group. She kicked the punching bag so hard, it flung a little away from her in terror. 

Sweat beaded down her arms and face as she stared at the opponent in front of her. The punching bag came back, no less afraid of her than she was afraid of all of the thoughts that were swirling in her mind. She picked herself back up mentally; she pushed all of those thoughts away in her mind. Anger had no reason to be here. There was no reason for her to be afraid. She was at the gym, she wasn’t being targeted and there was no reason for hasty punches and kicks as though she was throwing a tantrum in the middle of a supermarket.

She thought of Kaede and the piano that she played. She thought of the calm that it brought her and the focus that she reigned herself in. If she was going to protect her friends, she had to be better than this. Try again. More precision, more accuracy. Keep them coming, keep them coming, she couldn’t afford the punching bag to get up this time. Her opponent had to stay down, stay down her thoughts were swirling.

Enough.

She was losing her touch. Maki ripped the tape off of her hands as she looked at the punching bag. She could feel the gazes of the two members that were still there watching her in awe. There was nothing awestruck about this. There was nothing that she did that was good. She reacted too much, she lost her concentration. She wasn’t breathing...her heart was racing.

Kaito is in danger.

_ Kaito is in danger. _

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in. That wasn’t happening. That was never going to happen. She needed to calm herself down. Breathe. She had hoped that if she got here after having it, she would be able to just...shove it aside. Shove it like she did all the rest of her nightmares. She reached for her water bottle and towel, wiping off the sweat on her forehead and taking a long refreshing drink from the bottle.

All they were were distractions and she couldn’t afford those. She walked with aching shoulders and legs towards the treadmill. She could run outside, she supposed. She could run all the way back to her apartment, where Kaito was undoubtedly making waffles or something sweet to get her blood sugar up from all of the exercising. He probably felt her leave to go to the gym after that nightmare, refusing to wake him up for something she could handle on her own.

She could handle this all on her own. She turned up the speed of the treadmill and began to run at a decent pace. She normally would listen to a podcast or a book. Shuichi told her of a few novels that he recommended and she wanted to be able to connect with him more. She wanted to know more about space, so she subscribed to some of the podcasts that spoke about the stars and constellations. Some things went over her head, but she knew enough to try to keep herself in a conversation. 

Her cult would want to take that away from her and she knew that. She knew that there was a chance that she could disappear as easily as she appeared in Hope’s Peak. Kaito didn’t believe that would happen, Shuichi wouldn’t let that happen, and…Maki was grateful for them both. Grateful for Kaito for loving her, for adoring her, for showing her that there was plenty to love.

Her hair was a prized thing Kaito liked about her. He was more sentimental about her brown locks than she was. She knew that if she tried to cut them, Kaito would worry endlessly about what it could mean when all it could mean was a haircut and nothing deeper than that. He told her that he saw stars in her eyes and she scoffed at that. She still couldn’t see that at all, the stars in her eyes. What could that even mean? 

But…

Kaito was...addicting. Not in a way of love, but in the way of affection. He gave his praises and his compliments as free as the wind would blow through the trees. He was unafraid to admit his mistakes, to apologize right up front. He was easy to compliment, and easy to encourage. He took things in stride.

Like the fact that he was getting sick.

Maki turned off the treadmill and she got off with legs feeling like jelly. She grabbed her water bottle and towel and briskly walked over towards the girl’s showers and locker room. She tossed her stuff onto the bench and she slid onto the ground, feeling the cold concrete hit her legs just right, cooling her overheated flesh. She ran her hands across her face and she looked up at the locker helplessly.

That was how that nightmare began. Kaito was getting sick. It was just something weird in his lungs, that’s what the doctor had said. Rationally, Maki knew it could be anything from a shadow to something serious. She knew that if it was  _ serious  _ then Kaito wouldn’t be in the apartment right now. They wouldn’t be waiting for blood tests. They wouldn’t be waiting for a result.

Maki woke up with a nightmare later that night, of Kaito bleeding. Of Kaito unable to breathe and her cult leader whom she hadn’t seen in years standing beside his body. Because that was the only death that she knew, was herself as the grim reaper or as the cult’s. Rationally, she knew this was very stupid. She knew she was overreacting and she was being stupid. She had to calm down.

Instead…

Instead she thought about her friends whom she loved even if they were pranksters and someone she’d rather strangle. She thought about the ones who she loved the most, and Kaito who she couldn’t love enough.

She didn’t deserve any of them. 

She picked herself up off of the ground. Shower, she decided, and then she was going to go back to the apartment. She’ll eat whatever sugar fest Kaito had in store for her, and maybe she could convince him to watch a documentary about space with her. Maybe she could convince him to go on a date. Nothing too strenuous, but...something that they could both do together. 

Maybe if she did all of that, she could start to repay him for all of the love and kindness he showed her. Even if it was small.


End file.
